Oncology pipeline

Oncology targets

Amenable to our expertise

The research and development techniques we have pioneered, especially our expertise in fragment-based drug discovery, are particularly well suited to the types of molecular target that cancer presents. It's this kind of research that gave rise to V158411, one of the latest arrivals in our pipeline.

The Company licensed exclusive, world-wide rights in our A2A programme for use in all therapeutic applications, including the lead molecule CPI-444, to Corvus in February 2015. Corvus is looking to develop CPI-444 for immuno-oncology, with clinical studies expected in 2016. CHR2797 (Tosedostat) is being progressed by CTI BioPharma who now have worldwide rights to this programme. S55746 (Servier 1) is a promising Bcl-2 programme that came from our first research collaboration with Servier and has since been partnered with Novartis. V2006 (Vipadenant) was licensed to RedoxTherapies in October 2014, as it has the potential to improve efficacy for immunotherapies. Our in-house pre-clinical candidate, V158411, which is available for partnering, targets the Chk1 pathway. Luminespib (AUY922), targets Hsp90 and was being developed by Novartis until December 2014, when it ceased development activities.

Oncology has long been an area of focus for Vernalis, with many types of cancer still poorly treated with inadequate drugs.